Pitless pump construction



Aug. 28, 1962 J. G. BAKER PITLESS PUMP CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 18, 1959 INVENTOR (257m Gordon 5m) BY M ATTORNEY Aug. 28, 1962 J, BAKER PITLESS PUMP CONSTRUCTION Filed March 18, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 i li iiiiii 774711.!

INVENTOR 057m Gordon Baker ATTORNEY 3,051,088 PITLESS PUMP CONSTRUCTION John Gordon Baker, Evansville, Wis., assignor to Baker Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Mar. 18, 1959, Ser. No. 800,150 9 Claims. ((ll. 103-87) This invention relates to pitless well construction and constitutes an improvement in my invention disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 2,657,637. In the structure as shown in U.S. Patent No. 2,657,637 priming of the pump is very diflicult unless the discharge pipe of the pump is either level or increasing in elevation with distance from the well. It is an object of the present invention to provide means for easy priming of the pump whether the discharge pipe is level, increasing in elevation or decreasing in elevation with distance from the well.

A second object of the invention is to provide the means of using the well casing above the pump as a funnel for priming the pump and as a means of applying hydrostatic pressure for priming without bringing the priming water in contact with the pump bearings.

A third object of the invention is to provide a pump motor mount for quick removal and replacement of the motor as part of the priming procedure; for more compact mounting of the motor; for improved alignment of the motor and for sustaining the motor torque reaction without transmitting high frequency noise causing torsional vibration of the (single phase) motor despite fabrication variance in the length of the Well casing.

A further object of the invention is to provide a pump drive shaft assembly: which permits quick uncoupling and coupling of the motor as part of the priming proce dure without loose parts such as set screws or keys which might be dropped in the well; which is adapted for quick removal of the drive shaft and supporting bearings without withdrawing the pump from the well, which avoids the accumulation of water on the drive shaft bearings as the result of condensation on the inner wall of the drive shaft housing and which cooperates with the motor mount to maintain alignment of the motor and pump axes despite fabrication errors in alignment of the well casing.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein one embodiment of the principles of the improvement has been selected for exemplification.

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary vertical section through a portion of a pitless pump installation showing a preferred embodiment of the novel features of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary horizontal section through the drive shaft just above one bearing.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged portion of FIG. 1.

The well construction includes a pump which may be of the jet type as shown in my U.S. Patent No. 2,657,637. The construction also includes a tubular casing made up of three parts, a lower casing 10, an upper casing 11 and a discharge body 12 all threaded together. The upper casing 11 has a cap 13 which is secured to the casing by means of the bolts 14. The shaft housing 15 extends through the opening 16 of the cap 13. The pump drive motor 17 rests on the shaft housing 15 and is secured by the bolts 18 to the motor mount 19. The motor 17 has a machined face and male diameter 8 which fits a corresponding machined flange and female diameter 9 of the motor mount 19 as shown in FIG. 1. The motor mount 19 includes the neck 20, the bore 21 of which is coaxial with the flange face and female diameters 9 and, by virtue of the flange fit with the motor, is coaxial with the motor shaft 31. The neck slidably fits around a turned diameter 22 of the shaft housing 15 which is coaxial with the inside diameter of 15. Thus the motor shaft axis and the axis of the inside diameter of the shaft housing 15 are aligned.

The middle shaft 23 extends through bearings such as 24 which are spaced along the axis of the shaft 23 and supported within the shaft housing 15 by the rubber bushing 25 which fits snugly around the bearing 24 and snugly within the shaft housing 15. The shaft 23 and the inside diameter of 15 are thereby made coaxial. The bearing 24 is bound to the middle shaft 23 by means of an eccentric bushing 26 as is well known in the art. The shaft housing 15 has an accurately machined lower end and is accurately threaded into the hollow spool 27 and tightened against the ring 28 and the accurate shoulder 29 thus aligning the axis of the inside diameter of the shaft housing .15 and the impeller shaft 30. Since other fits already described align the motor shaft 31 and the middle shaft 23 with the inside diameter of the shaft housing 15, it follows that all shafts are in alignment.

The radial clearance 32 between the cap 13 and the inside diameter of the upper casing 11 permits the radial location of 13 on the casing 11 by the motor mount 19 before the bolts 14 are tightened. Thus eccentricity of the axis of the upper casing 11 with respect to the impeller axis, due to fabrication errors in alignment of the casing assembly, does not cause misalignment of the motor shaft with respect to the impeller. Moreover, substantial fabrication variance in length of the upper casing 11 can be tolerated because considerable vertical displacement of the cap 13 with respect to the motor mount 19 does not impair operation of the motor.

The cap 13 is sealed to the outside diameter of 19 by the ring 33 of a yieldable material such as rubber to exclude foreign matter from the Well. If venting of the well is necessary the plug 85 in the cap 13 can be replaced with a vent pipe of construction well known in the art. The pin 34 discourages vandalish removal of the motor 17.

The rubber ring 35 surrounds the boss 36 extending up from the cap 13. The cavity 38 within the motor mount 19 surrounds the rubber ring 35 so that rotation of the motor frame about the motor shaft axis is prevented and the torque reaction from the motor is sustained. The yielding of the rubber ring 35 prevents transmission of torsional vibration of the motor frame, which is particularly pronounced when the single phase type of motor is used, and thus eliminates noise which would result if the restraint were rigid.

The motor shaft 31 extends from the motor 17 into the coupling 39 with a slide fit. Relative rotations of the shafts 31 and 23 and the coupling 39 are prevented by the tit-key 40. The middle shaft 23 is pressed into the coupling 39. The tit 37 of the tit-key 40 prevents withdrawal of the key when the motor shaft 31 is withdrawn. The middle shaft 23 and the pump shaft 30 are similarly coupled and keyed together.

The rubber bushing 25 has fiat sides as shown in FIG. 2 to provide openings 42 between the shaft housing 15 and the rubber bushing 25. Above the areas of contact between the rubber bushing 25 and the shaft housing 15, the rubber has the chamfers 41.

Water condensing on and flowing down the inner wall of the shaft housing 15 flows through the openings 42 either directly or by way of the channel formed by the chamfers 41 and the inner wall of the shaft housing 15. Thus, the accumulation of condensate on the top of the bearing is avoided.

At the lower end, the condensate flows through the openings 43 in the ring 28 down through the drain passages 44 and 45 to the lower chamber 46, i.e., back into the well. The flow of condensate onto the bearing 47 is prevented by the barrier 48 which is part of the ring 28. The pump shaft 30 extends through the lower bearings 47 and the seal and carries the pump impeller 49. The impeller 49 is of construction similar to that shown in U.S. Patent No. 2,576,637. The impeller 49' is located within the pump chamber '50 which is part of hollow. spool 27..

The discharge body 12 has a shoulder 51 upon which the shoulder 52 of the flange 53 rests. A ring 54 of yieldable material such as rubber is compressed into the groove around the flange 53 hearing against the surface 55 to form a tight seal. A similar sealing arrangement is used to seal the upper flange 56 to the corresponding sealing surface 57 of the discharge body 12. Such construction permits the spool with the pump contained therein and associated parts to be withdrawn or inserted into the casing by raising or lowering the shaft housing 15. The threads 58 on the top of the shaft housing 15, which are exposed when the motor 17 and mounting 19 are removed, are for attaching a hoist to facilitate such raising or lowering.

The pipes 59 and 60 are threaded into corresponding openings in the bottom of the spool 27 and extend down into the well where they are coupled to the nozzle-venturi combination 77 which is in turn coupled to the tail pipe 78 and the foot valve 79 as shown in U.S. Patent A delivery pipe 61 is attached to the discharge body 12 and, in the typical case, extends to the dwelling through the basement wall 62 to a T connection 63 for a pressure gauge 64. The pipe 61 continues to the pressure regulating valve 65 and thence to the pressure tank 66 from which the water is drawn as needed for use.

The upper flange 56 of the spool 27 has an aperture 67 which when open connects the upper chamber 68 with the outlet recess 69. The outlet recess 69 is in communication with the pipe 60 through the passage 70 and also in communication with the discharge pipe 61. The lower end '71 of the closure rod 72 may be used to tightly close the aperture 67. The closure rod 72 at its upper end is formed into a head 73. In FIGS. 1 and 3, 72 is shown screwed into the aperture 67 and the head 73 is made hexagonal to facilitate rotation with a wrench inserted from above when the cap, motor mount and motor are removed. A second aperture 74 in the flange 56, which is open when the pump is in operating condition, connects the upper chamber 68 with the drain passage 45 in the spool. 45 communicates with the lower chamber 46. The aperture 74 is preferably threaded with the same thread as used in the aperture 67 so that the closure rod 72 may be screwed into either aperture.

Leakage through the seal 75 is drained into the drain passage 45 through the drain passage 76. (45 is not in communication with the outlet recess 69.) Condensation on the inner wall of the upper casing 11 drains through the aperture 74 and the drain passage 45 into the lower chamber 46.

Operation In the operating condition, the closure rod 72 is tightly inserted into the aperture 67 and the aperture 74 is open as shown in FIG. 3. With the motor rotating the impeller, water is raised from the well in pipe 59 by action of the nozzle-venturi combination 77 and flows through the passage 81 into the inlet 84 of the impeller 49. The impeller forces the water through the diffusers 82 into the outlet recess 69 where the flow is divided, with part returning to the nozzle-venturi combination 77 to sustain the jet and the balance flowing through the outlet recess 69 to the discharge pipe 61 through the regulator valve 65 and thence to the pressure tank 66. The regulator valve 65 is adjusted for minimum pressure which will sustain the jet action of the nozzle-venturi combination as is well known in the art.

Priming Procedure In order to prime the pump, the bolts 14 are removed and the'motor i7 is lifted oif. (Disconnecting of the I; motor leads 8.3 is not necessary). and cap 13 lift off with the motor. 1e coupling 3% and key 46 remain with the shaft 23. Now, the closure rod 72 is unscrewed from the aperture 67 and inserted into the aperture 74. Next, sufficient clean water is poured into the upper casing 11 to continue the flow into the aperture 67 until such flow substantially stops. Excess water is desirable to use hydrostatic pressure to speed the filling process.

Next the pressure gauge 64 is removed. If water runs out of the hole from which the pressure gauge was removed, the gauge is immediately replaced. On the other hand if no water appears, the hole is filled with clean water and the pressure gaugeis then replaced. After time enough has elapsed for the pipes to fill, the closure rod 72 is removed from the aperture 74 and replaced in the aperture 67, after which the motor is replaced and the pump started.

The opening of the aperture 74, of course, drains the excess priming water through the drain passage 45 and into the lower chamber 46, i.e., into the well. During the priming operation with the aperture 74 closed and water standing in the upper casing 11, the drain passages 44, 45 and 76 are drained so that the hearing 47 is not flooded no matter how high the water stands in the casing 11.

I claim:

1. In a pitless well construction, the combination of an upright elongated casing having an outer wall and an inner wall with an upper and a second sealing surface, a detachable cap at the upper end of said casing, a spool insertable into and withdrawable from. said casing from the top thereof having an upper and second flanges scalable against said upper and second sealing surfaces respectively, a fluid delivery outlet through the wall of said casing between said sealing surfaces, an outlet recess formed by said spool and said casing in communication with said outlet, an upper chamber extending between said upper flange and said cap, a pump chamber within said spool having an outer and an inner wall, a centrifugal pump having an impeller disposed within said pump chamber journaled in said spool and adapted to discharge fluid into said outlet recess, a drain passage between the outer wall of said pump chamber and said casing, a threaded aperture in said upper flange of said spool connecting said upper chamber and said outlet recess, a second threaded aperture in said upper flange of said spool connecting said upper chamber and said drain passage, means disposed within said upper chamber for alternately opening and closing said respective apertures, a shaft means carrying said impeller and extending upwardly within said casing for actuation from a point above the The motor mount 19 top of the casing.

2. The invention claimed in claim 1 wherein the means for opening and closing said respective apertures comprises a rod extending upwardly from said upper flange of said spool, said rod being threaded at the lower end to engage threads of said apertures and headed at the upper end to permit manual turning of the upper end of said rod to engage the threads of one of said apertures and close off said aperture when the other said aperture is open.

3. In a pitless well construction, the combination of an upright elongated casing having an outer wall and an inner wall with an upper and a second sealing surface, a detachable apertured cap at the upper end of said casing, a hollow spool insertable into and withdrawable from said casing from the top thereof, having an upper and a second flange scalable against said upper and second sealing surfaces below the ground level, a fluid delivery outlet through the wall of said casing between said sealing surfaces, an outlet recess between said sealing surfaces formed by said spool and said casing in communication with said outlet, an upper chamber extending between said upper flange and said cap, a pump chamber within said spool having an outer and an inner wall, a centrifugal pump having an impeller disposed Within said pump chamber and journaled in said spool adapted to discharge fluid into said outlet recess, a drain passage between the outer extremity of said pump chamber and the inner wall of said casing, a threaded aperture in the upper flange of said spool connecting said upper chamber and said outlet recess, a second threaded aperture in the upper flange of said head connecting said upper chamber and said drain passage, means disposed within said upper chamber for alternately opening and closing said respective apertures, shaft means carrying said impeller and extending upwardly within said casing, a shaft housing secured to the top of said spool and extending upwardly within said casing through the aperture in said cap, and surrounding said shaft means, a motor coupled to the upper end of said shaft means, a motor mount secured to said motor slidably engaged with said shaft housing, said motor being removably positioned on said shaft housing.

4. The invention claimed in claim 3 wherein the means for opening and closing said respective passages comprises a rod threaded at one end to engage threads of said apertures and of such length and upper shape as to permit manual turning of the upper end of said rod from ground level to engage the threads of one of said passages and close off said passage, when the other said passage is open.

5. In a pitless well construction, the combination of an upright elongated casing having an outer wall and an inner wall with an upper and a second sealing surface, a detachable apertured cap at the upper end of said casing, a hollow spool insertable into and withdrawable from said casing from the top thereof having an upper flange and a second flange scalable against said upper and second sealing surfaces, said sealing surfaces being underground below the frost line, a water delivery outlet through the wall of said casing between said sealing surfaces, an outlet recess between said sealing surfaces formed by said spool and said casing in communication with said outlet, an upper chamber extending between said upper flange and said cap, a pump chamber within said spool having an outer and inner wall, a centrifugal pump having an impeller disposed within said pump chamber journaled in said spool and adapted to discharge into said outlet recess, an aperture in the upper flange of said spool connecting said upper chamber and said outlet recess, a drain passage starting in a second aperture in said upper flange and continuing through the spool through said second flange to the lower chamber, rod means extending upwardly within said upper chamber from the upper flange of said spool for manually alternately opening and closing from ground level said respective apertures in said upper flange, shaft means carrying said impeller and extending upwardly within said casing and through the aperture in said cap, a shaft housing secured to the top of said spool and extending upwardly within said casing through the aperture in said cap and surrounding said shaft means, a motor slidably coupled to the upper end of said shaft means, a motor mount secured to said motor adapted to slidably engage said shaft housing, said motor mount being removably positioned on said shaft housing, means engaged with said motor mount for preventing said motor frame from turning.

6 6. The improvement in a spool for enclosing a centrifugal pump and for insertion into a well casing having an upper casing chamber and a pump chamber for said pump, an outlet recess formed by said spool and said casing, a drain passage within said spool between the pump chamber and the casing, said spool having an upper flange separating on one side said upper casing chamber and said outlet recess and separating on the other side said upper casing chamber and said drain passage within said spool, an aperture in said upper flange connecting said upper casing chamber and said outlet recess, and a second aperture in said upper flange connecting said upper casing chamber and said drain passage, interchangeable plug means for said apertures.

7. The invention claimed in claim 6 wherein the apertures are threaded, and the plug means consists of a rod which is threaded on one end and carries a head on the other end adapted for turning with a wrench.

8. In a pitless well construction having a well casing with an outer wall and an inner wall with sealing sur faces the combination of a spool for insertion into the casing of the well with upper and second flanges sealable against said sealing surfaces to form with the casing an upper chamber above said upper flange, a lower chamber below said second flange and an outlet recess between said flanges, said recess extending through said casing wall and connecting to a fluid delivery pipe, a tubular shaft housing tightly attached to said spool, a pump drive shaft journalled within said shaft housing on at least one bearing, said bearing surrounded by a bushing of yieldable material said bushing being shaped to be alternately in contact and separated from the inner wall of said shaft housing, said bushing and inner wall of said shaft housing thus forming passages to drain condensate flowing down the inner wall of said shaft housing away from said bearings, a passage within said spool in communication with the interior of said shaft housing and said lower chamber.

9. The improvement in a spool for enclosing a centrifugal pump .and a shaft seal and for insertion into a well casing having an outer and an inner wall, said spool having upper and second flanges scalable against sealing surfaces on the inner wall of said casing to form with the casing an upper chamber above said upper flange, a lower chamber below said second flange and an outlet recess between said flanges, said recess extending through the casing wall .and connecting to a fluid delivery pipe, an aperture in said upper flange connecting said upper chamber and said outlet recess, a first drain passage starting in a second aperture in said upper flange and continuing through the spool to the lower chamber, and a second drain passage starting above said seal and connecting to said first drain passage below said second aperture.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,745,547 Layne Feb. 4, 1930 2,478,941 Piccardo Aug. 16, 1949 2,657,637 Baker Nov. 3, 1953 2,688,929 Schleyer Sept. 14, 1954 2,827,855 Rankin Mar. 25, 1958 2,850,982 Fabrin Sept. 9, 1958 2,896,544 Ogles et al. July 28, 1959 

